


a shinra mutt gone feral

by SeaOfBones



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Cloud Strife's A+ Mental Health, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, POV Alternating, cloud adopts the wrath hound from "on the prowl", cloud spends a week doing odd jobs in Sector 7 instead of a day, everyone else probably still dies, it's time to get good at the darts, the dog lives, who is adopting who
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25956829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaOfBones/pseuds/SeaOfBones
Summary: Cloud accidentally adopts an escaped Shinra bloodhound while trying to settle into a normal life in Sector 7.
Relationships: AVALANCHE & Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 83
Kudos: 218





	1. Chapter 1

Tifa wasn’t sure why he’d let the monster live. They’d chased it to the closest thing Scrap Boulevard had to a dead end. It was bleeding. Cloud was bleeding. She was bleeding. Cloud held his sword above his head as if he was about to end it, the way he’d almost ended Johnny until she’d stopped him. And then something went out of the bloodhound’s eyes. That fierce, angry light dulled, and it lay its head on the ground.

Cloud froze, as if Tifa had spoken, and lowered his sword. The monster stayed prone. Its fierce white fur seemed grey now, matted with sand and blood.

“Look, just… get out of here,” Cloud said coldly, his voice wheezing from where the hound had crushed his throat.

Cloud sheathed his sword against his back, and stalked away. The creature still lay there, the long whip-like appendage protruding from the top of its spine lying limp against its side.

Tifa couldn’t bring herself to end it herself. She was used to fighting monsters, but this… it was a Shinra experiment, wasn’t it? That’s what Wymer had said. She had only ever seen hounds like this by the side of Shinra soldiers, monstrously loyal. But lying like that, it just looked like any other animal.

Tifa turned her back on the hound, and followed Cloud back to town. Wymer was questioning him as she closed the wire gate behind her with a rattle.

“It shouldn’t bother you anymore,” Cloud said, arms folded. 

“It got away?” Wymer was asking, exasperated.

“It was in pretty bad shape,” Tifa supplied. Whatever Cloud’s reasoning, the hound really didn’t look like it was going to be causing trouble anytime soon.

“Let us know if it comes back,” Cloud added.

Wymer shook his head in a way that Tifa knew meant he’d accepted it. “If it’s in anything like the state you two are in, I guess it won’t be scaling the walls anytime soon. Thanks, merc.”

“...No problem,” Cloud said, and walked off without saying goodbye. Tifa winced. If this was Cloud trying to be nice… well, she _knew_ this was Cloud trying to be nice. That was the problem.

“Will I see you at Seventh Heaven tonight?” Tifa offered.

“You might well do, Tifa,” Wymer sighed. “Thanks again. I’ll let you know if there’s any more work for your friend there.” 

“I really appreciate it,” Tifa replied. She gave a cheery smile, and hurried after Cloud.

Tifa could see the residents of Sector 7 giving him distance. They might trust him more, since he’d been helping out the Watch, but he would always be… he would always be him. Cloud Strife smelled like blood, dust and mako. Cloud Strife smelled like an accident waiting to happen.

“...What?” he asked as she caught up, peering at her through pale eyelashes. He had a sensitive face, he always had. Tifa never found his scowl that convincing. But the more time she spent with the new him, and after what had happened with Johnny… she was starting to wonder if it was her that was imagining things.

“...Why?” she asked in return. She had too many questions about Cloud Strife, and the incident with the dog had added dozens more.

Cloud continued to frown. He looked more confused than angry, to her. “It seemed like too much trouble,” he suggested.

“You’re a mercenary,” Tifa replied. “All you do is trouble.”

“...I don’t know, then,” Cloud shrugged. “I’m going for a shower.”

Tifa laughed. “Good. I wasn’t going to let you in the bar without one.”

Cloud’s mouth did something that Tifa knew was supposed to be a smile as they reached the stairs to Stargazer Heights.

\---

The mood for end-of-the-world partying that had swarmed Seventh Heaven the day after the Reactor 8 explosion had died all the way back down. Barret and the others had come back out from the basement just before she’d opened, still working on the plan for the next reactor. Just regulars and Avalanche tonight. It was quiet enough for Marlene to be there, playing under Barret’s table with dolls and empty bottles.

“Daddy, I made a Cosmo Canyon just like Tifa,” Marlene piped up, offering up an empty glass. “Will you try it?”

“Of course I will, sweetheart,” Barret said warmly. He lifted the empty cup to his lips, taking a long, pretend gulp. “Oh, this is delicious.”

“Hey, Marlene,” Biggs said, leaning back in his chair. “Am I not invited to your tea party or something? You too old to hang out with me now?”

“Well… okay,” Marlene replied.

Tifa smiled to herself as Biggs got down on his hands and knees, giving Marlene his drink order with serious enthusiasm. And then Cloud Strife walked into her bar, his clothes still damp from a half-hearted tumble in Marle’s dryer, the thick black stitches over the hound’s tears more suited for field dressing a wound than for repairing clothing.

Tifa knew how she felt about Barret’s plans. She wished there was any other way to challenge Shinra. But she didn’t know what it was, so she didn’t know what to do. Cloud was a whole other set of problems, but they were welcome ones, tonight.

“Hey merc,” Tifa teased. “Maybe you could spend some of that paycheck on a new outfit.” Getting Cloud to settle into Sector 7, to build a new life after… whatever had happened to have him stagger back into her life with nothing but the clothes he was wearing and the sword on his back. Saving him seemed more possible than saving the world. At least, so Tifa hoped.

“Maybe,” Cloud replied, slinging himself onto the barstool. He looked almost comfortable. Tifa reached for the cocktail shaker.

“Ready to be my taste tester again tonight?” she asked.

“I guess so,” Cloud replied.

It was the excuse she gave for not charging him for drinks. _Maybe such a discerning customer could try out something new I’ve been working on._ With his quiet smile, Cloud was happy to play along.

“Sunday market’s at the train station tomorrow,” Tifa suggested, pouring grapefruit juice and coffee liqueur into the shaker. “Maybe you’d like to check it out together.”

“Sure,” Cloud replied.

“It’s a date, then,” Tifa smiled, pouring the shaker out into a glass and sliding it to Cloud. It was clear brown, a little darker than whiskey.

There was a warm silence between them as Cloud took a sip.

“...What do you think is going to happen to the dog?” Wedge interrupted from the other end of the bar, his mournful eyes lifted towards the ceiling.

“What dog?” Cloud grunted.

“The one Tifa told me about,” Wedge said, shifting one stool closer and turning towards Cloud. Cloud’s wary look kept him from getting any closer.

“The one we fought earlier,” Tifa prompted. She hadn’t told him that she’d mentioned it to Wedge and the others.

“That wasn’t a dog,” Cloud replied, returning to his drink.

“I mean, if it’s that badly hurt, maybe someone should go and feed it,” Wedge pondered. “Maybe _I_ should go and feed it. It must be so afraid, out there in the dark...”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Cloud replied. “Like you said, it’s dark. Scrap Boulevard gets dangerous at night, right?”

“I guess,” Wedge said weakly. Cloud wouldn’t know that look. He probably didn’t know, yet, just how stubborn Wedge could be when he thought he was doing what his soft heart thought was the right thing.

“Why don’t you hire Cloud to do it?” Tifa suggested, gesturing a thumb towards him. “I’m sure a _professional_ like him can handle the Boulevard at night.”

“No,” Cloud replied.

“Oh, what happened to _for the right price_?” Tifa teased, pressing her knuckles against the bar.

“What would you even get me to feed it?” Cloud said evasively, turning back towards Wedge. “You only have cat food.”

“Maybe Tifa has steak,” Wedge said hopefully.

“Then you’ll owe _both_ of us money,” Cloud sighed.

“Well, Jessie owes _me_ money,” Wedge said.

“Don’t bring me into this,” Jessie called over her shoulder. She was also under the table now, pretending to clean the glasses Biggs and Barret had pretended to drink.

“So?” Wedge said, pleading now. “Are you gonna do it?”

Sometimes, Cloud’s mako glare was as cold as the steel sky. But he didn’t look like that tonight. He rolled his eyes, and huffed his breath. But what he said was, “Fine.”

\---

“Ugh.”

The package of meat was cold against Cloud’s back, fresh from Seventh Heaven’s fridge. Even through the bag, the other monsters of the Boulevard could smell it. It smelled of--

_\--a dark room a green light a grate in the floor something wet something warm--_

\--blood and flesh.

There was a gorger clinging to Cloud Strife’s waist. He should have seen it coming, but he hadn’t. He shucked it off with a swing of his blade as he stalked towards the dead end where he’d last seen the bloodhound.

This was a stupid job. But Tifa seemed to want him to take it. Lesson three for life on the ground floor, you’ve got to look out for each other. Lesson three and a half, Avalanche are fine but if you don’t watch them they will do something stupid and get themselves hurt. Especially Wedge, but especially Jessie, but especially all of them.

Cloud peeled the torn chain link fence back and ducked through. Even at night, Midgar was never dark. Streetlights above cast their waste light through the gaps in the plate, outlining Scrap Boulevard in sickly mako blue. The blood on the ground was black in the night. Whether it was Cloud’s or the creature’s, he couldn’t be sure.

The hound was hiding, but only just. Even in the dim light, its reflective eyes caught an obvious gleam. It was lying down, and as Cloud walked closer, it began to growl.

He didn’t know what it could do. He hadn’t even known there was a Shinra lab it could have escaped from nearby. He half-unwrapped the meat and threw it to the ground, a few metres away.

The creature pounced. Cloud flinched back, hand towards his blade. But he steadied himself. It had stopped at the meat. It was eating the meat.

“I still mean what I said,” Cloud said over the sound of the hound’s ravenous tearing and gulping, as if it could understand him. “You should get out of here.”

It growled again, softer. Almost a whine. “Anyway. Bye.”

He cringed at himself. Lesson two of life on the ground floor, _be nice_. Well, Tifa couldn’t say he wasn’t trying.

The hound’s footsteps were quiet, but Cloud’s hearing was better. He spun to face the creature. It stopped in its tracks, and lay expectantly.

“Stop that,” Cloud said coldly. “I don’t have any more.”

He started walking again, and the hound started following again. He sighed in exasperation, and reached for his sword. “This was just a job, okay?” This was stupid. It couldn’t understand him. “It doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

The hound followed him all the way to the gate. He couldn’t bring himself to draw his sword. He might scare it off, or he might end up fighting it again. The guard from the Neighbourhood Watch stared, confused, as the oily street light illuminated Cloud and his canine shadow.

“Just… leave it,” Cloud sighed. He closed the gate in the hound’s face, and slammed the lock shut. It sat, staring at him through the--

_\--tap tap the bubbles in the tank shake dark glasses and a sneer--_

\--wall of wire.

The guard was closer now, her gun levelled at the hound.

“Just leave it,” Cloud repeated, covering his eyes against the headache. Midgar was always bright, Midgar was always too bright.

“What was it doing to you?” the guard asked

“It thinks I have food,” Cloud grunted.

The guard frowned at him. “...Right.”

“It should be gone by morning,” Cloud slurred. The pain wasn’t going away. “I told it to go.” The lights were too bright and his head hurt too much and maybe he was just drunk. He wasn’t going to make it back to Seventh Heaven tonight. Cloud staggered back into Sector 7, the hound’s eyes boring into his back.


	2. Chapter 2

Cloud awoke with a clatter and a frenzied knock on the door. He was--

_\--metal cylinders and round glass faces the smell of formaldehyde--_

\--on the floor at Stargazer Heights. He remembered now. Marle had found him staggering around Sector 7 and brought him home, without a word.

The knocking at the door stopped. Cloud saw the handle begin to turn, far too slowly, squeaking ever so slightly.

_\--it’s him it’s him it’s--_

“Cloud, I’m coming in.” It was Tifa’s voice, frantic.

Cloud’s hand was on his sword.

“Don’t,” Cloud snapped. “I’m fine.”

But it was too late. Tifa stood at the threshold, arms hanging by her sides, as the door drifted open, and weak streetlight fell across Cloud’s body. He was still on the floor. He started to get to his feet.

“What happened…?” Tifa asked. She hesitated in the doorway. He couldn’t see her face. He didn’t think it was a good idea for her to come closer.

“It’s nothing. I had…”

_\--struggling to lower his sword, it wasn’t his body anymore--_

“...It was just a dream,” Cloud replied. He shrugged uncomfortably. His mattress was still bare, he hadn’t bothered laying the sheets over it. “I’m fine, Tifa. Go back to sleep.”

Tifa didn’t move. “Do you want me to keep you company?”

Cloud shook his head. No, she didn’t need to see him like that. “Thanks for checking on me,” he said, evenly as he could. “But I’m fine, really. See you tomorrow.”

“...If you’re sure,” Tifa said. She put a smile on as she stepped into the light. “See you tomorrow, Cloud.”

He closed the door behind her and lay on the mattress. In about a minute, he heard it. The faint creaking of the thin walls, Tifa doing pull-ups on the bar in her room. Cloud closed his eyes, and he didn’t think he slept.

\---

There was a crowd gathering outside Scrap Boulevard in the morning, and Cloud still felt like shit.

“Cloud, are you okay?” Tifa prompted, again, as their boots clattered against the rickety metal stairs. She hadn’t mentioned the… incident from the middle of the night, and Cloud didn’t want to talk about it with her. He pressed his fingers against his eyelids. The dark didn’t make him feel any better.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he sighed. “We should check out what’s happening. Could be trouble.”

Cloud suspected he knew exactly what was causing the problem.

“Maybe you’re… dehydrated,” Tifa suggested as they turned. She was a little behind, speaking just at his shoulder. Cloud didn’t think that even _she_ believed what she’d just said. “It’s pretty dry down here, if you’re not used to it.”

“Rule four for life on the ground floor, drink lots of clean water,” Cloud murmured. “Got it.” He opened his eyes, a brief fuzzy imprint marking his vision where he’d been pressing them closed. Wymer and the Neighbourhood Watch were crowded around the fence. They took a step back as Cloud approached.

And there it was, beyond the gate. The sleek white hound rose as Cloud came near, its luminous eyes lifting to look at him.

“What’s it... doing?” Tifa asked.

“Just… waiting,” Wymer said.

“It’s been like this since you left,” one of the Watch said, gesturing to Cloud. It was the guard he’d passed last night.

“Has it attacked anyone?” Cloud asked, meeting the creature’s gaze.

“That’s the thing,” Wymer sighed. “No. Most monsters try to break through the fence, but it doesn’t seem interested.”

“What do you think we should do?” Tifa mused.

“Open the gate,” Cloud commanded, reaching for his sword. “If it’s here for a fight, I’ll give it one.”

The rest of the Watch backed away, but Tifa stayed by his side, gloves up. The creature sank down, bony shoulder blades high. And when Wymer opened the gate and ran out of the way…

The hound took a few steps forward, and sat down at Cloud’s feet.

Cloud stared, his teeth gritted. The hound continued to sit there, and looked up at him expectantly.

“...Seriously?” Cloud said. It tilted its head to one side.

“Looks like you’ve made a friend,” Tifa said brightly, leaning forward. The precise smallness of her smile let Cloud know exactly how funny she thought this was.

“I don’t want to make a friend,” Cloud protested. He took a step back, and the dog followed again. He growled in frustration, and the dog growled back.

“Well, I think the only responsible thing to do here is for the merc to keep a watch on it,” Wymer said, nodding sagely. “No point putting an animal down if it means no harm. Maybe it thought we were Shinra at first, and the thing’s calmed down now it knows it doesn’t have to go back in a cage.”

Wymer had a point. Cloud didn’t want to be responsible for it, but he didn’t want to kill it either. Especially if keeping it alive was another finger raised at Shinra. “...Fine,” Cloud conceded. Maybe he could get Wedge to take it. Maybe that weird kid, the Shinra intern with the eyeglasses, would know what was up with it. He turned to look at Tifa. “You still want to go to the market?”

“...With the dog?” Tifa asked.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop following me anytime soon,” Cloud replied.

Tifa looked to the silent hound, and then to Cloud, and then shrugged brightly. “You know what? Sure. Let’s go.”

Cloud looked back at the hound. This close he could feel it. The mako. It was drenched in it, same as him. Maybe it had smelled it on him first. It would explain why it was following him.

“...Be nice, okay?” Cloud said flatly. “If you bite someone I’m not helping you.”

The creature tilted its head the other way. Tifa laughed.

“What?” Cloud huffed.

“Oh, it just… reminds me of someone,” Tifa replied.

They began to walk, and the creature followed.

\---

People in Sector 7 usually gave Cloud a wide berth. He’d been helping the Watch out the past few days, but Tifa knew that as far as most people were concerned, he was just another stranger with a big sword.

This morning, the Shinra dog walking at his heels wasn’t helping.

The market hadn’t gotten too busy yet, and some of the sellers were still rolling out colourful mats and cardboard signs along the edge of the dirt path. Most of the faces were familiar to Tifa, from Sector 7 itself or somewhere nearby.

“Oh, the spice seller’s here,” Tifa noted, touching Cloud’s arm. “Do you mind if we stop by? I need to get some ingredients.”

“I’ll wait here,” Cloud replied. The merchant was watching him warily.

“You’re going to have to introduce yourself eventually,” Tifa replied. But she relented. Cloud was here with her, and the ingredients were Tifa’s business. And the merchant still watched Cloud even as Tifa approached alone. Her expression only softened as Tifa began to make smalltalk, about the market and about Seventh Heaven and about how business was going for both of them.

When Tifa turned back from the stall, black pepper, salt crystals and ginger root heavy in her satchel, Cloud Strife was shouting at a child.

“Hey!” he barked. His stance was wide, a scowl painted across his face.

Betty’s lip wobbled. The loose circle around him widened a little further. Faces turned.

Tifa started towards them. Don’t run, don’t draw attention. _Be nice, be nice_. She hadn’t seen him lash out at another person since what happened with Marco that first night, but if he was having one of his episodes here… this could be bad. Not here, not now, not while he was still a stranger here...

Cloud folded his arms. “Don’t touch the dog. It doesn’t like it.”

...Oh.

Tifa slowed down. She realised she was clenching her hands.

“Sorry…” Betty murmured, fingers worrying at the buttonhole of her cardigan.

The hound backed against Cloud, silently.

“Some animals just don’t like it, okay?” Cloud said, sheepishly gruff. “Just… ask next time.”

“Okay,” Betty said brightly.

Maybe he was handling the market better than she’d feared.

With Cloud’s voice lowered and Betty calmed, the crowd warily moved on. “Hi, Tifa!” Betty beamed, before scurrying back to her father. Tifa forced a smile.

Cloud still seemed distant. Arms folded, feet planted in the dirt. The hound his mirror, the same rigid posture, both surveying their surroundings for threats.

“Hey,” Tifa said softly. “Sorry about that, I shouldn’t leave you out here when it’s your first time. Do you still want to shop for clothes?”

“It’s fine,” Cloud said, snapping back to attention. “And… sure.”

Cloud was more practical than fashionable. That much seemed right to Tifa. She led him to the stall selling military surplus - outdated uniforms, combat salvage and boxes that had somehow made their way from the Shinra warehouses to Sector 7. Tifa knew the Watch bought a lot of their gear from them. Unornamented vests, combat trousers and sturdy, second-hand work boots.

Cloud didn’t say much. He refused to buy a lead for the dog, insisting that he didn’t intend to keep it. But he bought a few changes of clothes. He even haggled a little, calmly but firmly. As if, maybe, he might be able to get used to life down here.

They wandered up the stairs and on to the train platform. Cloud looked out across the market in quiet contemplation, massaging his shoulder with a black-gloved hand.

“...So, is there something you need?” he asked.

If Cloud was trying to hurry out of here, he wouldn’t be standing still. Tifa looked at him carefully, his eyes not meeting hers. “I mean, I have my ingredients and we just changed the water filters, so…”

Cloud shook his head. “No, I meant…” He sighed, and looked up towards the plate. “I meant… you’ve done me a favour, and I’ve just been paid. Let me… thank you.”

“I’m... not sure.” Right now, Tifa wasn’t sure what she needed, although she could guess at what she wanted. She knew that she wanted Cloud here, in Sector 7. She wanted him to be safe, and maybe even happy.

And she wanted… a friend, someone to talk to who wasn’t deep in with Avalanche. Barret, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge were all good friends, but they’d all made their choice. The cause came first. Tifa didn’t think she would be able to go as far as they were willing to. She couldn’t see the line anymore.

“I don’t like owing you,” Cloud said, breaking the sentimental silence between them. Tifa smiled to herself. He certainly had… a way with moments like these.

“And here I thought you were trying to be nice,” Tifa replied, looking back to his flustered expression.

“Well… that too,” he replied stiffly.

The hound whined.

Tifa cleared her throat. “Anyway, we should get it some food.”

“If I do that, it’ll keep following me,” Cloud grumbled. “I’m a mercenary. I can’t look after a pet. Wedge is the one that wanted it.”

“Wedge is more of a cat person,” Tifa said. “So I guess it’ll have to be you, for now.” Her smile broadened. “And… maybe I like you owing me a favour, merc. Give me a little longer to figure out what I want to call it in for, okay?”

“...Alright,” Cloud said, a soft edge to his harsh voice. He rested his fingers, absently, against the hound’s neck. “A little longer is fine.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried, for longer than I would like to admit, to find a canon name for Marle's dog, but I could not, so I made one up.

Marle’s wheeled case rattled across the uneven ground as she dragged another week or so of supplies back towards Stargazer Heights, Orion’s even footsteps padding by her side. Tifa usually helped, since between Marco and everyone else Marle helped out, she was buying more than one person could carry, but honestly, Marle was happy that Tifa had left early and spent the morning with the boy. She needed a friend her own age.

Tifa would be at Seventh Heaven by now, but her mercenary was outside the apartments as Marle approached, gazing down at a scruffy white hound as it viciously licked the marrow from a piece of hollow bone.

The kid with the glasses was with him. Chadley, was it? The one who had asked for a sample of Orion’s fur for a field study on animal life beneath the plate. Cloud grunted a greeting as Marle settled her case against the railing, then turned back to Chadley, who was kneeling over the animal.

“So what’s wrong with it?” Cloud asked, arms folded. He edged his boot closer, and the hound leaned its head against his calf.

“Nothing,” Chadley replied, one of his lenses folding away. “There are no health issues that I can detect arising from its augmentations, or the mako treatment, at least at present. However, I believe that, given the amount of time it spent in the wasteland, it would not be uncommon for a domestic or semi-domestic animal to require treatment for worms or ticks.”

“...What?” Cloud sighed.

“I said that, given the amount of time--”

“I heard you,” Cloud interrupted. He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. Marle tried not to laugh. Useful as he was as a merc, Marle suspected that his time with Shinra hadn’t prepared him for anything he couldn’t solve by swinging a sword around. “I meant I don’t know the first thing about looking after animals.”

“Well, luckily for you, I’m a dog person,” Marle interrupted. She leaned away from the railing and approached the dog slowly, Orion shadowing her. “I have tick salve and worm tablets for Orion. You should take some.”

The dog bared its teeth as she got close. She lowered herself down onto her haunches to make herself smaller, less of a threat.

“...Thanks,” Cloud said. “I just got paid, if you want--”

Marle held her hand up. “No need.” The hound’s fur was pure white beneath the grime. Marle wondered if it had always been like this, or if it was like Cloud’s mako eyes - an accident of Shinra’s tampering that marked it as theirs forever. “What a beauty you are,” Marle murmured. “Is this the one that was causing Wymer trouble?”

“Yeah,” Cloud grunted. “Tifa wants me to keep it.”

The dog growled anyway as Orion drew close. The labrador flopped down on the sand, brown eyes gentle. “No manners at all, this dog,” Marle laughed. “I can see why she thinks it would be a perfect match for you.”

“I’m not keeping it,” Cloud said, exasperated.

“I must reiterate that it’s quite impossible for me to take it into my care,” Chadley replied. “Shinra dormitories do not allow pets.”

Cloud sighed.

“Look, merc,” Marle suggested. “Give the poor creature a home, at least for a few days. And for the Planet’s sake, get it a collar. The Watch might know it’s no trouble, but you don’t want anyone taking potshots at the thing.

“...Fine,” Cloud relented. “Just for a few days.” He looked at her directly, a wary edge to his cold eyes. “I’m a mercenary, Marle. You know I won’t be here forever. I can’t take it with me.”

Marle knew what he meant. Shinra soldiers took hounds into battle, but only as weapons. She had seen them on patrol, all of the light beaten out of their eyes. She would be surprised to find that any of them considered the hounds to be pets, companions. To send this poor creature back into combat would be worse than cruel.

“...I know,” Marle sighed. Even if Tifa seemed to believe he was here to stay. Maybe that’s how it would shake out. Cloud would go, and in his place, Seventh Heaven would get a new taciturn guard dog. “I’ll keep an ear out for anyone looking for a particularly large and rude pet, if you haven’t found anyone to look after it yourself by then.” She kept her eyes pinned on Cloud, bright as fire. “But I mean what I said, merc. Move on if you have to. But if you leave Tifa in pain, I’ll find you, and what I do to you won’t be pretty.”

“I know,” Cloud said.

Marle stood. The hound scratched at itself. She would get Orion’s medication. “And be gentle with it, you hear? It’s been through the worst time of its life. It deserves better than Shinra gave it.”

“I know,” Cloud repeated.

Marle turned towards her house. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cloud lower himself, and sit by the dog in the dirt.

\---

Biggs flipped the cap of the beer bottle off with a flourish, and slid it down the bar to Wedge. It didn’t slide all the way. Biggs shrugged as Wedge laughed at him, and turned towards Cloud.

“So what can I get you?” Biggs called. “A Cosmo Canyon? I’m just as good at this as Tifa, you know.”

The mercenary was playing darts at the back of the bar, that enormous hound draped at his feet. Biggs could tell whenever he made a bad play, because Cloud would curse at the board and the dog would bark along with him.

“I’d like to see you try,” Cloud replied. A throw, a thunk, a smirk.

“Right, right, right,” Biggs breezed. He turned towards the wall of liquors and spirits.

“But if you break anything, you’re paying Tifa back,” Cloud added sternly.

Cosmo Canyons were red, right? And they had a sweet note to them. The grenadine, maybe? Jessie and Tifa were through the back, doing inventory and sorting the accounts for the month. For the bar and for Avalanche both.

The door banged open as Biggs’ hand hovered over the bottles. He cocked a grin, and called over his shoulder. “Hey, sorry, we’re closed.”

Heavy footsteps thudded forward. Biggs knew there was only one person that could be. He turned around and rested his elbows on the bar as Barret stalked forward.

“Where is that mangy, ex-Shinra mutt?” Barret thundered.

“Hey,” Wedge said gently. “It’s actually a very well-behaved dog.”

“I ain’t  _ talking  _ about the dog,” Barret growled.

“I’m over here,” Cloud piped up. He threw his last dart at the board. The dog barked at it. Cloud turned, and lounged back against the scoreboard.

Barret rounded on Cloud, a piece of scrap paper clenched between his thumb and his index finger. “I hear you had a run in with Betty at the market this morning.”

“So what if I did?” Cloud said flatly. Biggs wondered if he should intervene. Not that Barret was the type to get into fights, but Cloud could get under his skin just as well as anyone who still worked for Shinra did.

Barret slammed the paper down on the table nearest the dart board. “She wrote you a note to say sorry for scaring your dog,” Barret said. “And it might be too late to learn  _ you  _ some manners, but you are going to write that girl a thank you note.”

Cloud said nothing for a few moments. He stared at Barret, then at the note. “...Fine. Give me some paper”

Biggs tore a page from the pad Tifa took orders on and passed it to Cloud as he and Barret pulled up a stool at the bar. The dog still trailed behind him.

“Hey,” Biggs noted. “You’re going to have to give that thing a name eventually. You can’t keep calling it  _ the dog _ .”

“I’m not keeping it,” Cloud repeated.

“I know, I know,  _ it’s not your dog _ ,” Biggs sighed, spreading his fingers across the bar. “But for  _ my  _ sake, Cloud. I need to call it something.”

Cloud paused. “Glass,” he suggested.

“No,” Biggs replied.

“Dart.”

“Maybe,” he conceded.

“...Gun.”

Biggs sighed. “Something that isn’t in this room.”

“Tifa,” Cloud said, apparently completely without irony.

“That’s just going to get confusing,” Biggs replied.

“Then…” Cloud frowned. And he grasped his head as if in pain, his eyes falling blank.

Biggs knew that look. He’d seen it enough times, and not just on Cloud. After all, he was hardly the first mako-poisoned ex-Shinra merc to roll through the slums.

If they were lucky, they ended up like Marco. If they were unlucky, they ended up like Jessie’s dad. Tifa hadn’t mentioned it, Cloud’s condition, and Barret pretended he didn’t care, even if he could see him watching Cloud with the same steely concern. Biggs didn’t know if Tifa couldn’t see it, or if she was just pretending she didn’t.

Cloud was a SOLDIER, with the worst radioactive eyes Biggs had ever seen. He was holding it together well, for what he was. Biggs hoped that would give him a few more months, maybe even years. But in truth, he didn’t think it would.

“...Zack,” Cloud murmured.

“You know what?” Biggs said. “That’s not bad.”

Cloud began to shake his head. “Wait, that… no. That’s not a dog’s name.”

“Sorry, Cloud, but it’s the least bad name you’ve come up with,” Biggs shrugged. “It’s sticking until you come up with something better.”

“You can keep it then,” Cloud growled. And then, “Stop licking that, it’s not good for you,” directed towards the floor.

Biggs laughed, and turned back towards the bottles.

“Eyes on the page, merc,” Barret said, something perhaps only Avalanche would recognise as careful, gentle, beneath his gruff growl.

The pen scratched gently against the page. Biggs reached for the vodka. He considered the vacuum-sealed pack of dried lemon peel, but given how expensive they must have been, he reconsidered. It was Tifa’s choice, when to use them.

Downstairs, Jessie would be working out what kit they’d need for the next mission, and Tifa would be working out how much Seventh Heaven could put towards it. They all knew, each time, that they might not be coming back. Maybe that’s why the pair of them had been acting so strange, lately. Biggs was thinking of the kids he used to teach in the Leaf House, and dreaming of a world for them where trees could grow in the ground that the reactors had drained to dust.

Biggs swirled the cocktail shaker with more enthusiasm than precision, and tried to hold on to that. To think of them, and their future, more than what was going to happen - what they were going to do, because someone had to - over the next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. A Cosmo Canyon is definitely a Cosmopolitan, and by that I mean Biggs has no idea what's in it.


	4. Chapter 4

_ \--gnawing through your veins, it itches and it burns and-- _

Cloud awoke to a wet stripe on his face. A warm breeze carrying the scent of raw flesh, something large and alive pinning him down.

_ \--something wet, something warm, something-- _

Backed against the cold wall, he reached for his sword and found nothing there.

The dog, who was not Cloud’s dog and was not called Zack, licked Cloud’s face again. Cloud’s blurring eyesight focused, guided through the dark by its gleaming eyes, milky blue beneath the white glare of reflection.

Cloud heaved a long, staggered breath and said nothing. The dog panted softly, but did not move to lick him again.

If the dog did have fleas, he’d have to treat the mattress or Marle would be pissed. This late in the night, Cloud couldn’t bring himself to care.

The dog didn’t move. Cloud rolled to face the wall, and closed his eyes. He didn’t remember when, but somehow, he slept.

\---

It rained that night. Cloud awoke when the banging on his door rose above the hard drizzle on the ceiling.

“Cloud?”

It was Tifa.

“Come in,” Cloud called.

Tifa strode through the door with purpose, headed for the back corner of the room, and opened the wardrobe. “Oh, thank goodness,” she sighed. “The roof is leaking above Marco’s room. I was worried it would be leaking in here.”

“You need a hand?” Cloud asked. “What about Seventh Heaven?”

“Oh, it’s not on a gutter line,” Tifa replied. She looked down, her eyes settling on him, and her expression softened. Cloud realised that the dog was still dozing on the bed. He still hadn’t gotten it a collar. “Biggs said you gave it a name,” she said carefully. “Zack, was it?”

“ _ Biggs _ gave it a name,” Cloud replied. He knew there was another question behind the one she’d asked, but he didn’t know what it was. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Tifa shrugged. “I was just wondering if you’d named it after someone.”

Cloud stared blankly. There was--

_ \--come on cloud can you hear me come on cloud we’re nearly there-- _

\--a hard pain at the base of his skull. Cloud grunted. The dog pressed its head against his shoulder.

“Anyway,” Tifa said hurriedly. “Marle can fix the roof herself, but there’ll be plenty of jobs for you because of the rain. You’ve never seen it rain beneath the plate before, have you?”

Cloud shook his head. “Nope.” He got to his feet, and stretched his arms as high above his head as he could in the cramped room. His wrists pressed against the ceiling, trembling beneath the downpour.

“Come on, then.” Tifa ducked towards the door, hands clasped behind her back and a smile over her shoulder.

From how it sounded against the roof, Cloud thought it must have been torrential. But when he stepped outside, following Tifa with the dog at his heels, he realised it wasn’t that simple.

A sheet of water sliced across Sector 7, Stargazer Heights caught in its path. Where he could see more rain falling, it was similar - it fell in lines, some drizzling soft droplets and others just as heavy as the rain on Marle’s house. That must have been what Tifa meant by gutter lines. The drains on the plate had to go somewhere, and like everything else Shinra worked with, it didn’t always go where it was supposed to. 

“You know, someone from Shinra Urban Planning came down here about a year ago,” Tifa commented. She rested her wrists on the railing, leaning back so that the rain flowing from the roof didn’t reach her. “Marle did most of the talking. He said he wanted to fix the leaks, but… well, all this place has seen of Shinra since then is soldiers, same as always.”

Cloud joined her. The dog sat by the railing, staring across Sector 7. Cloud assumed that most animals hated being wet. Looking down, he could see that the paths had turned to a muddy slurry, the dirt and dust of Sector 7 being carried away by the flood. And he realised that the landscape of the slums made more sense to him now. The fast water eroding the scars and dips, the dirt piling up against the mounds and ridges. The hollow across from Stargazer Heights had flooded, becoming a filthy pond that rippled with rain.

Like a river carving through a mountain, and a lake gathering beneath it.

_ \--phosphorous blue scars in stone the long drop from the reactor-- _

“So,” Tifa said quickly. Cloud squinted through the pain.

_ \--fire fire fire-- _

\--Tifa’s eyes, reddish-brown in the pale haze.

“You can see why people might need a little extra help when it rains,” she continued. “I usually help the Watch check on people when it gets like this.”

Cloud nodded blearily. The dog whined.

“Shut up,” Cloud whined back. He leaned back from the railing, his head still spinning. They had a goal, they had a mission. “Alright, let’s go.” He looked back to the dog. “You’re going to stay here. You’ll only get in the way.”

The dog stared, its eyes inscrutably serious. Cloud took a step towards the stairs, and the dog followed. “No,” he said firmly. He took another step, and so did the dog.

Tifa laughed beneath her breath. “I don’t think you’re going to have any luck getting it to stop.”

Cloud sighed. “I don’t want to deal with this.” He turned from the dog and walked down the metal staircase, slippery in the slick rain. The dog padded behind him, only the faint creak of it putting its weight on the thin steps audible above the rain.

“This is stupid,” Cloud said. Shinra hounds were supposed to be intelligent. They were supposed to be able to understand. Cloud thought that the dog knew exactly what he was saying, but was deciding not to listen.

With a squelch, Cloud stood down on to the slurry that had only the day before been one of the dusty streets of the Sector 7 slums. Tifa was waiting at the top of the staircase, smiling.

“That’s enough,” Cloud said, turning on his heel to face the hound. He stretched his arm upwards and sharply pointed his index finger towards his room. “Wait inside. I’ll bring you food later.”

The dog lifted its paw.

“Zack,” Cloud said pleadingly, as if saying a name would help.

The white hound looked Cloud straight in the eyes as it took a step on to the muddy ground.

Cloud stood in place, his outstretched arm suddenly seeming ridiculous. “Urgh.”

“Well, can you blame it?” Marle piped up. She was leaning out of her window. Cloud folded his arms quickly as Tifa laughed at him, buckled over the railing. “Would you want to be cooped up in that room all day?”

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Marle smile. Whether it was at him and the dog, or at Tifa’s wild laughter, he couldn’t tell.

“...I guess not,” Cloud admitted. He stared the dog down. It still hadn’t taken another step. Its body all taut muscle, tense and coiled. If the dog wanted to be sprinting through the slums, he suspected it would have been.

In a few days, he hoped the dog would be someone else’s problem. For now… well, it would be better if he knew where it was. It would be less trouble that way.

“Fine,” Cloud sighed. At his agreement, the dog loped forward, padding around him in a loose, gentle circle. Tifa followed, suppressing her smile.

“What?” Cloud said, pretending he couldn’t see the funny side.

“Nothing,” Tifa replied airily.

Behind him, there was a soft splash. The dog, who was not Cloud’s dog and was not called Zack, leapt around the edge of a shallow puddle, as if it had always been a dog, and never just a weapon.

\---

With half of his attention behind him, back towards where Marlene and Betty were playing by the flooded hollow, Barret hefted a metal pipe above his shoulder, the veins throbbing against his tensed bicep. Cloud grabbed it.

“Okay, steady,” Tifa said, leaning over the lip of the Watch house roof with a wrench.

“Right,” Barret replied. He looked up at Cloud, squinting through the water. More shit from the plate, more shit from Shinra. Barret had already decided the merc wasn’t coming to the next reactor. He’d be telling the others tonight.

“Higher,” Tifa prompted. Barret lifted, and Cloud pulled.

Tifa might argue. Jessie and Wedge too. Cloud was stronger than he looked, but he had no passion, and Barret had no money.

“Okay, just hold it there,” Tifa grunted.

The bolts creaked as Tifa screwed them tight. Cloud’s weird dog was still sitting below, batting at the rust-brown water that dripped from the leaking pipe seam with a filthy paw.

“Cut that out,” Barret said. “It’s dirty.” The dog didn’t listen.

“...What’s it doing?” Cloud sighed.

“Being a dog,” Barret replied, shrugging with his free arm. “Just be grateful it ain’t the sewer pipes this time, is all I’m saying.”

“Urgh,” Cloud murmured.

Sector 7 loved Avalanche the way they loved the Watch - whatever they thought of what they were trying to build, they did the shit Shinra didn’t. Once they’d shut down all the reactors, Barret truly believed this same work would persuade anyone still suckling for mako. The people can build a new world without mako, but mako can’t do shit without people.

Marlene and Betty were laughing. Barret turned his head back to them. They were chasing a stick around the rim of the pool, watching as their splashes pushed it along.

“Marlene, careful by the water now,” Barret called gently. “No running, you hear?”

“Yes, daddy,” she called back. She slowed, but Betty didn’t. The other girl jumped forward with two feet, and skidded forward from her grand splash, yelping as she disappeared into the deep, mucky pool.

“Shit,” Cloud murmured, as Barret said the same. Cloud went to drop the pipe at the same time Barret did, and it slipped from both their hands.

“Shit!” Barret repeated, the blunt blow clanging against his fingers as he tried to catch the damp metal with one hand. Tifa was running down the stairs faster than Cloud could, as Marlene called for help.

Faster than them all was the dog.

It barrelled through Barret’s legs, silently swift, and dove into the mud to further cursing from Cloud.

Barret, Cloud and Tifa caught up as the dog was resurfacing, its head dripping with clumps of black muck and its mouth carrying Betty by the back of her shirt.

“Oh,” Betty murmured, as she spat out water and blinked the mud from her eyes. “Thank you, Mr Dog. I got your letter, Mr Cloud.”

Barret lifted Betty as the dog sat in front of Cloud, spraying filthy droplets from side to side as it wagged the tail that stuck out from the back of its neck.

“Betty, are you okay?” Marlene asked, crowding by her friend’s side. Barret wiped her face off with one of Marlene’s handkerchiefs.

“You’re alright, huh Betty?” Barret prompted, giving the girl a brave smile. “Just a fright, is all.” He should take Betty home, maybe have her and Marlene play there while they fixed the pipe that was now lying back where it had burst in the first place.

“Nope,” Cloud said, gesturing to the dog’s coat. “I’m not dealing with this.”

“Too bad, merc,” Barret replied, hefting Betty on to his shoulder. He heard the dog shake its coat out as he left. Cloud let out a long, choked sigh and Tifa a startled yell.


	5. Chapter 5

As far as Tifa was concerned, a name was much easier than _the dog_ , as much as how it shared that name with the SOLDIER she’d met in Nibelheim had troubled her. Zack, _the dog_ , had sat patiently as Tifa and Cloud had fixed the pipe, successfully this time, with some help from Wedge and Wymer. As the rain eased to a trickle, the thick muck on Zack’s coat began to dry to a pale brown, like cracked mud. 

“Stop that,” Cloud said, from around the corner. Tifa emerged onto the walkway behind Seventh Heaven, hefting a steaming basin of hot water in her arms. Zack lifted its head from where it seemed to have been worrying at the peeling dirt with its muzzle, a smattering of thick flakes lying beneath it on the pale wood.

“Sorry for the wait,” Tifa said. “The pump was a little stiff. I’ll need to have a closer look at it before we open.”

She knew very well that any repairs she - or Avalanche - couldn’t make themselves meant money that wouldn’t go to the cause. Either to the cause she knew they’d be meeting to discuss tonight, or the odd jobs they all helped out with around town, as part of the Watch or simply as people who lived in the slums.

“You need a hand?” Cloud said, lifting his head but keeping his eyes on Zack.

“I won’t say no to some help around here,” Tifa replied, teasingly. “But I think you’ve got enough to deal with down there.”

She set the basin down before Cloud and his dog. It was already fragrant with mild, chalky soap, a pair of slightly used yellow sponges bobbing on the surface. Tifa’s shirt was still stained greyish from the grim rain, but with the task ahead of them, neither she nor Cloud had changed out of their sodden clothes.

Zack tilted its filthy muzzle ever so slightly, the whip that protruded from the top of its spine held away from its body, firmly alert. It didn’t seem agitated, but… Tifa supposed it would take more than a few days for it to shake Shinra’s habits.

“If it runs,” Cloud said grimly, watching the completely still dog with a completely serious expression, “I’ll hold it while you clean it.”

Tifa watched Zack for a moment. Its tail was still alert, yes, but the way it was sitting… Tifa wasn’t an expert on animals, but she knew how a person looked when they were ready to fight. It reminded her of Cloud - the dog was alert, yes, out of habit more than anything, but it wasn’t aggressive.

“I don’t think we’ll need to do that,” Tifa said. “Look.”

Zack wouldn’t move from its spot, so Tifa approached, slowly, lowering herself into a crouch. “We’re going to clean all that mud off, okay?” she said.

The dog didn’t give any indication that it understood, but it didn’t tense its muscles as if preparing to run.

Tifa took the warm sponge from the basin and began to work at the side of its neck. Slowly, carefully, dampening the pale, cracked dirt back into dark mud. The only part of Zack that moved was its whip-tail, which slackened ever so slightly.

“You just need to be gentle,” Tifa said quietly. “It’s like…”

Tifa had been going to compare this to giving Marlene a bath, and trying not to pull her hair when she was cleaning it, but realised that would be even less familiar to Cloud.

“It’s like cleaning a burnt metal pan,” she said. Even SOLDIERs must clean, she hoped. “Where if you scrub the dirt with something too hard, or without soaking it, you’ll scratch the pan. Soften the hard dirt first, and you won’t need to be rough with it.”

“Got it,” Cloud said, taking the second sponge. With the calm focus she usually only saw from him on a job, he began to work. Wringing the water until was soaked _just so_ with the same precision with which he tested the weight of a new blade. The gentleness she’d known from the Cloud of Nibelheim, with a SOLDIER’s precise grace.

Zack sat between them, as stoically content as Tifa had ever seen it, as the pair of them slowly uncovered more of its wiry white fur. It growled only when one of them pushed too hard, and quieted when they relented. The basin began to swirl with sand and grit, and across from them, the corrugated metal roof of Tifa’s unlucky neighbour continued to drip.

“I can see why you love this place,” Cloud said, unprompted.

“Even when it floods?” Tifa teased.

Cloud shrugged gently. Zack yawned, exposing more and more pointed teeth as its mouth stretched open. “It’s just rain,” he replied, as if they weren’t washing an animal that had just jumped into one of the lakes of filthy water that formed in the crevices beneath the plate any time this happened.

“That’s a... _kind_ way to look at it,” Tifa replied.

Cloud went quiet, but the kind of quiet that Tifa knew to leave alone. He’d speak, when he was ready. “I can see why you hate Shinra,” he said evenly. “It’s more than the reactors, isn’t it?”

“...Yes,” Tifa said quietly.

She fell silent, and focused on Zack. When she had come here, after what had happened in Nibelheim, she had only wanted to fight the reactors. Now, having lived here for so long… there was so much more wrong that Shinra was doing. Whatever Barret and the others were taking to the reactors… she wanted to take her own anger to the part of Shinra, the part of Midgar, that let people live in rusting buildings, beneath leaking pipes, while others lived comfortably on the so-called benefits of Shinra’s monopoly.

“I’m… still not sure about Barret’s methods. But…” Tifa shook her head. “We can’t go on like this, Cloud. Something needs to change. Sector 7 can barely afford one mercenary to help us out, and something needs to change. I hate them, Cloud. I… hate them.”

Her strong fingers felt slack with trembling, and she pressed them against Zack, holding the sponge against his damp fur. Cloud caught her hands with his long, deft fingers. She let them slacken completely. She dropped the sponge. This was life in Sector 7 - no matter how you felt, there was always work to do, cleaning and fixing, replacing the filters and delivering meals.

It made her feelings seem comfortingly small, such unpretty work.

\---

 _Thunk._ Cloud’s last dart hit the board.

“Hey, you’re getting good at this,” Wedge commented cheerfully, from the table behind him.

“I can do better,” Cloud growled, as he went to retrieve the darts. He’d tied with Wedge now. He was so close. A few more tries, tighter precision and a little luck, and he knew he could do one better. He glanced over his shoulder, towards the bar, but Tifa still wasn’t there.

He hadn’t been sure what to say to her, out behind the bar, so he hadn’t said anything at all. It was… he didn’t think he’d heard her speak like that before, but there was something darkly familiar about it all the same.

_\--soldiers, mako reactors, shinra, everything, I hate them, I hate them all--_

But it made sense. Of course she hated Shinra. Cloud was sure he hated them too. He’d left, after all. So he’d stayed with her, silent but still. She didn’t say anything else about Shinra, or anything else at all. Only, after a time, she lifted her head suddenly and drew her hand back, and said she needed to open the bar.

Cloud had stared down the tense dog, already mostly clean, and finished the work they’d started.

Lying at his feet now, it smelled damp, but faintly enough of the soap that he didn’t think anyone would complain. He squared up to the dartboard again, and drew his arm back, as the door to the back room swung open.

Cloud turned his head. But as Tifa walked into the room, Barret jabbed him in the shoulder.

“Avalanche meeting,” he said, expression hidden behind his sunglasses. “And last time I checked, you ain’t Avalanche, merc.”

“Yeah, sure,” Cloud said. Tifa wasn’t smiling, until she looked at him.

“I’ll see you later, Cloud,” Tifa said, putting on an _everything is okay_ grimace that Cloud recognised, or remembered, as fake. “I think Zack needs a walk, anyway.”

“I’ll only have to clean it again,” Cloud replied, settling the darts on the windowsill. The dog looked up at him, with its glassy mako eyes.

“Hey, Wymer was asking after Zack anyway,” Biggs suggested. “Why not swing by the Watch?”

It wasn’t a bad idea. They might have more work for him, anyway. Like Barret said, he wasn’t Avalanche. It was only for Tifa’s sake that he was giving them first offer on his services.

Cloud had promised he wouldn’t leave her, when she needed him. At least, this time, he wouldn’t be going far.

“Whatever,” Cloud replied. He took his sword from where he’d leant it against the wall, convinced it was affecting his darts stance, and stalked out of Seventh Heaven without another word.

Sector 7 hadn’t dried, exactly, but the people of the slums had been to work since the rain stopped. People like Tifa, throwing down mats along the pathways to make them easier to walk on, the same kind they rolled out at the market. Sector 7 looked like a bad repair job, different coloured rectangles soldered together, stained with muddy footprints.

Cloud heard a faint crunching sound from behind him, and turned on his heel. The dog was gently devouring a mud-encrusted ham pastry that had been swept down to Seventh Heaven by the flood. It could have been from up on the plate, for all Cloud knew.

“I just fed you,” Cloud sighed.

The dog pretended not to hear him, and swallowed the pastry whole with an undignified gulp.

Cloud sighed again.

“Right, we’re going to the Watch,” he said.

But this time, the dog didn’t listen. It continued to stare in the other direction, and lowered its nose to the ground.

“...What is it?” Cloud said, reaching for his sword, his own senses prickling into animal alertness.

The dog began to run, and Cloud, without hesitation, began to follow.

Cloud ignored the startled yells and admonishments as the dog barrelled through crowds browsing the permanent stalls that lined the slums, and their echoes as Cloud shoved through after it.

“Sorry,” Cloud grunted half-heartedly over his shoulder. _Be nice._

The dog turned up towards the junk trader’s warehouse and, with only a moment of preparation, launched itself through a narrow metal pipe that, as far as Cloud could see, led only to a garbage dump.

Cloud lowered himself, bracing his hands against the filthy rim of the pipe, and crawled through at a crouch.

He reached for his sword as he stood, spotting, at the far end, what the dog was following. It was a wererat, like the kind that lived in Scrap Boulevard, but larger. He remembered that the item shop had asked the Watch to look out for something like this, but he and Tifa hadn’t been able to find their nest.

Cloud ran to the dog’s side, soldier and hound, as the dog backed the other animal into a corner with snarls and teeth.

He’d never worked with a hound before, personally, but… it was easier than he expected. Like fighting with Tifa, with another person, clever enough to anticipate his movements and take the openings he made, even as more rats emerged from the garbage.

He definitely wasn’t keeping the dog. And he definitely wasn’t calling it Zack. But…

Cloud brought his sword down as another of the things lunged at him, and the dog dove after it, pinning it down.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have the dog with him, for now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year, everyone!

Avalanche had planned long into the night. And in the morning, Jessie knew there was something she needed. So she watched, and she waited. Tifa and Cloud came down the stairs from Stargazer Heights, chatted briefly with Marle. Then Tifa walked on towards the bar, and Cloud and his dog in another direction. Alone. Good. She wanted him alone.

“Well hey, Zack and the merc,” Jessie beamed, sidling in place next to Cloud.

“Hey,” Cloud replied gruffly.

Zack stayed on the other side. Jessie produced the bribe for the dog from her pocket. A roughly round ball of rubber scraps and plastic lights.

“I made one of these for Orion too,” she explained. “He loves it.”

She tossed the ball, and as it bounced, the lights blinked and sparkled. Zack simply stared at it, and so did Cloud.

“...Huh,” Jessie noted.

“Shinra dogs don’t play a lot of fetch,” Cloud replied, marching over to the ball with a sigh and squatting to pick it up.

“Well, you seem to be fetching just fine,” Jessie said. Cloud didn’t respond. He was handsome for sure, and Jessie could think of all kinds of comments about how he looked when he was crouched down like that, but… this morning, she didn’t feel like it. Her actress charm was stretched thin as it was.

“I guess Tifa told you,” Jessie said. She’d be just as well getting to the point. “You’re not on the job tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Cloud replied. Zack paced to his side, and Cloud let it sniff Jessie’s offering. “Fine by me. I’ll find other work.”

“Well, about that,” Jessie said. “I might have… some work for you. And you can’t tell the others.”

“I’m listening,” Cloud said. He let the ball roll from his hand. Zack caught it with a graceful lunge, and began to cautiously examine it with teeth and tongue.

“I need to go topside tonight,” Jessie said. “I need to get blasting caps for… well, you know. The job tomorrow. And I know just the Shinra warehouse to get them from, on the plate.”

“Barret won’t wait for the black market?” Cloud asked as he got to his feet.

Cloud didn’t know Barret as well as Jessie, certainly didn’t know him well enough to know how long he’d waited for that first job, how very patient he could be.

Jessie shook her head. “It needs to be tomorrow.” It was half-true. Yes, tomorrow was a good opening. There was a parade in Sector 3, so there would be less of a guard in Sector 5. But the rest of the details, the part about her father, the sorry state of Tifa’s account book and the fact that she did, technically, already have blasting caps, and that was why Barret wouldn’t wait… well, Cloud said it himself. He was a mercenary. The rest of the details could wait until they were on the train to the plate.

“...Fine,” Cloud said. He stayed where he was, with his back to her, watching the dog. “What’s the fee?”

“I’ll give you a kiss,” Jessie said.

Cloud gave her a dry glance over his shoulder. He wasn’t in the mood for her flirtatious jokes, and to be honest, neither was she. Jessie slipped her fingers into the pouch of her utility belt, and slipped her fingers around the cold, glassy orb of materia.

“You know we don’t have much money,” Jessie said, drawing out the lucid green stone. She’d miss it. She wasn’t bad with materia, definitely a damn sight better with it than Biggs or Wedge. But she’d rather give it up than have a repeat of all the pain she’d caused in Sector 8. “I can pay you with this.”

Cloud eyed the materia coolly. “...Sure,” he replied, over the increasingly loud noise of Zack crunching. “That, and the dog toy.”

Jessie blinked. She genuinely wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. Well, either way… “Deal, then.”

She crossed the distance between them, and folded the orb into his gloved hand.

“Where are you off to this morning, anyway?” she asked, fidgeting a strand of hair behind her ear as he fitted the materia into his bracer. Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked him so early. Now he would be wearing their secret all day.

“The Watch,” Cloud replied. “Going to show them how the dog’s doing. You heading there too?”

Unfortunately, she was. “Well, you can walk me there then,” Jessie said, offering an elbow for him to lead. Cloud didn’t seem to notice it, let alone take it.

“Come on, we’re going.”

No, Cloud was looking down at Zack again.

“Drop it,” he demanded.

The dog looked at Cloud for a moment, and then began chewing faster.

“Marle had the exact same problem with Orion,” Jessie said, a smile almost coming to her mouth.

Cloud crouched, and with all of his warrior’s dignity, reached his hand to try to snatch a simple toy from an equally regal creature that refused to let it go.

And Jessie laughed. Despite herself, she laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

\---

“I still think we should bring him,” Wedge said quietly, nodding through the wire-frame fence. Cloud was crouched by Zack, Jessie by his side, as Wymer inspected the dog’s teeth from a distance.

“With what money?” Biggs replied, with a sad scoff of a laugh. Wedge passed him another gun, cleaned and oiled, and Biggs loaded it with a symphony of clicks.

At the meeting about tomorrow, they’d agreed that Wedge and Biggs would take their normal shifts at their Watch today. For everything to look normal before they hit the reactor, sure, but… because the Watch needed them, too, especially after the rain.

Wedge’s normally clumsy fingers found their ease in the soft cloth, cleaning grips and barrels, as Cloud and Jessie strode in, Cloud peering with some disdain at a strip of leather in his hands.

“You find any work, merc?” Biggs prompted.

“Not today,” Cloud replied. “What did you tell Wymer?”

He held the strip up accusingly. A bent metal disc hung from it, the bare bulb picking out the edges of the letters engraved in it.  _ Zack _ .

Biggs was trying to look offended. “Us? Cloud, we’d  _ never _ .”

“So what did Wymer say?” Wedge asked.

Cloud shrugged gruffly as he knelt by Zack. “Said it looked healthy and happy.” And despite his complaints, he fastened the collar beneath the whip-tail.

Jessie’s smile was thin. She hadn’t said anything. Wedge glanced at Biggs, who was already looking at him. At times like these, she was usually thinking about her dad. Once she’d told them about how Shinra used to send people to check on him, like he was an experiment. She said the first one had squinted at him through round glasses, and said he  _ wasn’t an interesting case _ .

Wedge worked better with love than hate. And he loved his friends. So he didn’t get angry. He’d just worked. Biggs always said that was why he was the one still in touch with HQ. Because they were all stubborn, but he was stubborn enough for two cells.

“If found, return to Seventh Heaven…?” Cloud read from the back with a sigh. “I’m not keeping it.”

“Well, it likes it there,” Wedge said innocently. That detail had been his idea. He knew Cloud might not keep the dog, but… well, he hoped that whoever ended up taking it, they’d still get to see it.

“Whatever,” Cloud grunted.

People always thought Biggs was the tough one when they looked at them, and, well… they were right. Wedge wasn’t much of a fighter. But if Shinra came looking for someone with ties to Avalanche HQ… Biggs and Barret always found it funny that it wasn’t someone like Wedge they’d be looking for.

“Hey, maybe you should bring Zack to meet my cats,” Wedge suggested.

“I don’t want to meet your cats,” Cloud replied.

Wedge smiled gently. People always said that, until they met them. Cloud was different in a lot of ways, but this wouldn’t be one of them.

“Anyway, are you… all set?” Cloud asked, quietly scratching behind Zack’s pointed ears.

Biggs and Wedge exchanged glances. They all knew they’d be better off with Cloud, but… they really didn’t have the money.

“Oh Cloud, you really do care about us,” Jessie said, forcing a smile.

“I didn’t say that,” Cloud replied. Zack licked the back of his glove.

“But you meant it,” Biggs said, picking up the ribbing so Jessie wouldn’t have to hold it alone.

Cloud just shrugged. But he didn’t say no.


	7. Chapter 7

On what he didn’t yet know was his last night in Sector 7, Cloud went to Seventh Heaven with the hound at his heels.

It looked the same as it had the first night. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie laughing at the bar, Barret hefting Marlene up onto the counter. At least this time Marlene didn’t run and hide from him. This time she ignored him, pointing at the dog instead. A few other locals were drinking at small, round tables, turning their heads to avoid looking at him.

Only Tifa caught his gaze, warm eyes and tentative smile from behind the bar.

_ \--a warm smile, a tentative handshake, we’re going to be friends whether you like it or not-- _

Cloud went to the quiet corner where the dartboard was. Just him and a target, and nothing else.

_ \--hey strife, come have a drink with us, you can’t hide over there all night-- _

The dog who was not called Zack growled, and Cloud made room for him at his feet with a huffed sigh. This thing wouldn’t let him be alone.

And neither would Avalanche.

Tifa set two drinks down on the table behind her. Barret set Marlene down between them, lifting her down from his shoulders.

“Go on,” Barret said.

Marlene hid behind his leg, peeking out from behind one of the pockets of Barret’s cargo pants. “Can I play with Zack?” she asked quietly.

Barret’s expression was, as always, a warning. Cloud looked down towards the hound, his head foggy. “Well?”

The dog didn’t say anything. Cloud wasn’t sure what he was expecting. He didn’t want to have to deal with this. Barret wasn’t a client he had to pretend at  _ nice  _ to anymore, anyway..

But for Tifa’s sake, he guessed he should pretend at nice anyway.

“You can stroke its head,” Cloud replied. “Once.”

He didn’t get why Marlene seemed excited by that. It was just a dog. Barret encouraged her towards it while the dog sat still.

Her tiny hand crept upwards, slowly and gently smoothing back the skin on the dog’s head, lifting its brow from its perpetual scowl. The dog endured it, staring blankly towards the dart board.

“Thank you,” Marlene whispered, before she scurried back towards Barret. For some reason, Barret gave Cloud a respectful nod as he picked his daughter back up. Cloud didn’t care to understand why. Maybe he would take the dog off his hands after all, company for Marlene while he was gone. Cloud wasn’t sure what he thought of that.

Tifa cleared her throat quietly, still standing at a distance. It occurred to Cloud that the second drink probably wasn’t for Barret at all.

“So, have you beat Wedge yet?” she asked, giving him a small smile.

“Almost,” Cloud replied. “I know what I need to do.”

“Are you going to tell me, or are you afraid the competition will hear?” Tifa teased.

He knew the shots he needed to take, at least. His hands… maybe it was just the way the darts were weighted. He had thought his hands were steadier than this.

_ \--what, the mako tremors, he laughed with his teeth, it’s a normal side-effect strife, you’re always worrying-- _

“Better not,” he said. Hesitantly, he put the darts back down. Hesitantly, he crossed towards Tifa, and took one of the drinks. Even as she eased into a warm expression, her head was half-turned towards the bar.

“So, what’s this?” he asked tersely, raising the glass towards his lips. The liquid was opaque, milky pale with a blue-green tinge, the rim dusted with sugar crystals.

“Gaea’s Cliff,” Tifa replied. “I thought it looked almost like mako, but…” she shrugged casually. “The colour wasn’t right. It’s too pale.”

Cloud guessed it was more than that, even if she wouldn’t say it while there were people outside of Avalanche around. If all of their plans worked as well as Barret dreamed, there wouldn’t be mako in Midgar for much longer.

“Anyway,” Tifa said quickly, taking her own glass and reaching to clink it against Cloud’s. “Let me know what you think.”

It tasted of sweet cream and cold mint, almost covering the chemical aftertaste of cheap slum alcohol. When he looked back at Tifa, she was holding the glass in both hands, close to her chest.

“It’s good,” was all Cloud said.

“Hey, Tifa,” Biggs called. One of the locals was standing at the bar, itching at his wallet.

“Coming,” Tifa replied quickly.

She put the glass down, and looked up at Cloud. Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what it was. He didn’t know what to do.

“I still owe you a night out,” Cloud said, glancing down at the dog to avoid meeting her eyes. He thought of standing on the train platform with her at the market. “I still owe you a favour.”

“Maybe I like you owing me,” Tifa said, without a smile.

Tonight, Cloud would meet with Jessie and sneak up to the plate. Tomorrow, Avalanche would go to the reactor without him. Who knew what Midgar would look like after that.

“The day after next,” he said. “I’ll take you somewhere, the day after next.”

“Okay,” Tifa said, with a watery smile. “The day after next.”

Tifa turned, and walked towards the bar. Cloud knelt down, and touched a thumb and finger to Zack’s collar, hands shaking so much that he had to clench his other hand too tightly to keep the glass from slipping and shattering.

He wouldn’t be beating Wedge tonight.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Cloud downed his drink, and walked out into the humid twilight air beneath the plate.

\---

On what he didn’t yet know was his last night in Sector 7, Cloud returned in darkness, pushing the borrowed motorcycle back to Biggs’ house. The adrenaline of their escape had worn off on the way home. They were all tired, and they were all covered in dust.

Cloud found himself wondering about the dog. It was too conspicuous to take plateside, so he’d left it to sleep in his room. With some irritation, he wondered if it had woken in the night, alerted Tifa or Marle to the fact that he was gone.

“Walk me back to my place, merc,” Jessie said. “It’s not far from the Heights anyway, and I’ve got the rest of your payment there.”

“Fine,” Cloud replied.

Jessie kicked at dried clumps of mud as they walked, and kept putting her hand back to her satchel, probing the canvas with her fingers as if feeling the outline of the blast caps. She talked a lot about her family. Her family above the plate, and Avalanche, her family below. Cloud nodded, and didn’t say much. Above the plate, the night sky glowed with mako stars.

“You can’t come in,” Jessie winked. “People will talk. Wait here for a minute, alright?”

“Whatever,” Cloud sighed. He folded his arms, and stood.

The lights inside were yellow. Cloud could see that through hazy plastic sheets taped around the window frame in place of glass. Jessie’s shadow passed from window to window, talking and laughter drifting after her. Cloud looked towards the heights, and exhaled in pointed impatience. This had been a long fucking night, and maybe the rest of the payment could wait until morning.

He was about to walk away when Jessie came back, closing the door over behind her. It didn’t sit right in the frame - thin triangles of yellow shone through the gaps between the door and the wall.

“Thank you for tonight,” Jessie said evenly. She lowered his eyes towards his hand as she folded the money into his palm. It wasn’t much, but a job was a job.

“...I know why Tifa has her doubts,” Jessie added stiffly. “After what happened in Nibelheim…”

“After  _ what _ happened in Nibelheim?” Cloud asked.

She lingered, her hand still clasped over his. Then she shook her head, and gave a dry laugh as she backed towards her door. “Stupid of me. It’s your home too. You’d already know what happened. The point is, when Shinra’s hurting… it’s not always Shinra that takes the pain.”

Cloud only stared.

“Enough grim talk,” Jessie said, shaking her head again as she opened the door. “Goodnight, merc.”

Cloud was aware that he was alone. That he had started marching towards the Heights. And that he hadn’t remembered, until he had.

He was kneeling on the metal stairs that led up to his apartment. He didn’t remember walking there. He didn’t remember when he’d stopped walking. His vision doubled in front of him, his head split by sharp pain.

_ \--and you did everything-- _

_ \--and you did nothing-- _

Cloud heard strained, panicked breaths, and knew logically that they were coming from his body. He didn’t know how to make them stop.

_ \--i can’t do it, zack, i can’t do it alone-- _

The metal catwalk creaked twice, with heavy bounding steps.

The dog was there in front of him. Mako eyes met mako eyes, illuminating blue rings against its clean white fur. It pushed its head against him. Cloud didn’t know if this was normal behaviour for a dog. He muffled himself against it, fingers digging into its coat. His ragged breathing grew heavier, his lungs straining all the way down to his diaphragm.

And then it started to calm.

Slowly, he didn’t know how long he was out there, it started to calm.

The dog lifted its head, and tugged at the wrist of Cloud’s glove. Dull-eyed, he followed it home.

\---

On what he didn’t yet know was his last morning in Sector 7, Cloud woke up with a headache. He didn’t remember getting home from the station. He knew Jessie must have paid him at least, the money was in his pockets.

“Back off,” Cloud snapped. The dog stayed at his ankles. He didn’t know what was wrong with it. He huffed irritably, and washed his face in the sink. Whatever. He was going to meet Avalanche this morning, even if he wasn’t going with them. Jessie had told him where and when.  _ Don’t you want to give us all a kiss goodbye, for luck? Or at least Tifa. _

He was recalling bits and pieces now. He remembered rolling his eyes at Jessie, and telling her to focus on staying on the bike. Cloud stepped over the dog and crossed the room, rapping on the wall to let Tifa know he was awake and ready to go.

Then he opened the door to a sky full of shrouds.


End file.
